Scottish haulier fined £100k for ignoring own unloading rules

A haulage contractor has been fined after a load from the top of a double-deck trailer fell onto a worker, causing life-changing injuries.

Maxi Haulage had failed to implement control measures to prevent the incident from occurring and had not followed safe working practices.

The HSE investigation found that, on 3 February 2015, an employee at the firm’s Cape depot on Cape Road in Warwick was injured when a piece of metal ducting, 6 m long and weighing 28 kg, fell from the top deck of the trailer and struck him on the head. The blow caused serious injuries, including a fractured skull.

Maxi Haulage had drawn up procedures for unloading trailers at depots but these had not been implemented. The contractor had also failed to inform employees about pedestrian and vehicle segregation rules.

Maxi Haulage, of Kilwinning Road, Irvine, Scotland, pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act at Warwick Crown Court this week. The haulage provider was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £53,401.